Civil engineering and industrial coating applications require environmentally safe resin systems that are curable at ambient temperatures to provide polymeric coatings exhibiting good impact and wear resistance, as well as chemical and moisture resistance. Concrete structures, e.g., require coatings that exhibit such properties even where shrinkage-induced cracks occur in the underlying structure. Acrylate-based coating compositions have provided a balance of stability and fast cure (even at low temperatures) but have required the use of significant quantities of low molecular weight monomers that have sometimes presented an inhalation risk and an environmental hazard.
Acrylate-based compositions have also been widely used in the radiation curing industry, where significant quantities of low molecular weight monomers have been added to a polyfunctional polymer or oligomer in order to effect viscosity reduction. This has often resulted in an impairment of the peformance of the resultant radiation cured coatings, as the desirable properties of the base polymer or oligomer have tended to be diminished by the effect of the monomer.
Thus, there exists a continuing need in the art for polyfunctional polymers or oligomers that exhibit improved viscosities and that can be cured alone or in combination with only small amounts of low molecular weight monomer(s) to provide durable, impact-resistant polymer coatings.